EAP Men’s Team Place Fourth in Best Ever ACCC Finish

The men’s East Asia-Pacific (EAP) team have finished their best ever Australian Country Cricket Championship (Toyota ACCC) with six wins out of 10 matches across both T20 and One Day (50 overs) format.

Jason Kila (214 runs in 10 matches), Doriga Kipling (211 runs in 20 matches) and Nalin Nipiko (175 runs in 10 matches) were the top three run scorers for the EAP men’s team in the championships.The team made up of a contingent of Vanuatu national cricketers have settled for a fourth place finish overall after a tough loss to New South Wales country in their last match caused their net run rate to drop.

EAP Men’s Team (blue/green) in action against South Australia CountryPhoto Credit: Czarsportz

Jelany Chilia (14 wickets in 10 matches), Nalin Nipiko (13 wickets in 10 matches) and Patrick Matautaava (10 wickets in 8 matches) were the best performed bowlers for the team across both formats of the game.

Nalin Nipiko was the best performer from Vanuatu with both bat and ball with a total of 175 runs scored in 10 matches and 10 wickets in 10 matches.

This experience will prepare Papua New Guinea (PNG) national players and Vanuatu national players as both countries are looking forward to competitions in the coming months with PNG heading to Zimbabwe in March for the ICC World Cup Qualifiers and Vanuatu will be heading to Malaysia in April to take part in the ICC World Cricket League Division 4.

In the women’s division, the EAP women’s team who were the former champions, finished in fifth place after a tough eight days of competition set them back from defending their title.

Brenda Tau (162 runs in 7 matches), Pauke Siaka (148 runs in 7 matches), and Sibona Jimmy (62 runs in 6 matches) were the top run scorers for the EAP women’s team in the championship while Kaia Arua (8 wickets in 7 matches), Konio Oala (6 wickets in 7 matches) and Leimauri Chilia (4 wickets in 7 matches) were the best performers with the ball for the team.